Today's Pinterest Busting exercise is all about the meals! I've been using the recipes I've saved on Pinterest as my new handy-dandy meal planning tool. I've been really uninspired lately, cooking-wise, so looking at recipes I've pinned has been helpful in that department.
Last night, I'd planned one thing for dinner, but then Cowgirl had plans with a friend who's moving, and hubby had to work, so it was just me and the Princess. (That kind of sounds like a book title- Me and the Princess.) So I went to my handy dandy food board to see what I could whip up.
The menu:
Appetizer: Hot & Skinny Spinach Dip
Main Course: Ramen Noodle Upgrade
Snack: Roasted Chickpeas
Hot and Skinny Spinach Dip
I'd been wanting to make the Hot & Skinny Spinach Dip for a while now, so I was excited to make this. I followed the directions almost exactly. When I say almost exactly, I mean that instead of plain Greek yogurt, I used honey vanilla because it was all I had, and the point was to NOT go to the store. I do not advise doing this. When we ate it, at times, I could taste a weird sweet flavor (the honey vanilla) that just wasn't right. Still, it was really yummy, and I will make this again!
Ramen Noodle Upgrade
I wanted to try this recipe because my kids LOVE Ramen noodles, but I want them to have something a little more substantial. This seemed like a nice compromise. I changed this recipe slightly because I'm trying to eat more protein, and added a chopped up grilled chicken breast when I added in the other mix-ins. We also omitted the Siracha, because my kiddo doesn't do spicy.
This recipe was pretty much a bust. Princess took one bite of it and said, "this has a peanut flavor." I said, "That's because it has peanut butter in it, isn't it yummy?" Her response, "No. It's gross. Can I have some ice cream?" She did get ice cream, but only after she finished the nasty stuff. We had to add extra soy sauce to make it palatable, and I think I would have tossed it and made something else had it not been for the chicken. The chicken part was yummy.
Roasted Chickpeas
I've been in love with this idea for a while now. I like crunchy snacks. I need to eat more healthy snacks. A marriage made in heaven, right? I made the garlic Parmesan version, but I tasted a chickpea fresh out of the oven before seasonings, and well, it was not yummy. I almost spit it out. But I added the seasonings, and tried it that way. Still not yummy, but better than plain. Princess did spit hers out, and asked for ice cream. This time, since I felt bad for her having also had to eat the nasty ramen, I gave her ice cream. I left them in a bowl on the counter, and because I can't not snack on something if it's there, even those those were nasty little things, I would take a few as I passed. The taste improves with time. I would not say that they're my favorite snack, and I probably won't eat them often, but I still might give them another try, and experiment with the flavors. The crunch is really satisfying, so if I can just find a good flavor, we might have a winner.
Bonus! One of my yummy creations! Healthier Hot Chocolate
Since I'm working hard at being healthier, I wanted to try a healthier version of hot chocolate. When I was at the health food store during one of their Christmas sample events, one of the ladies had a machine that she used to make a version of this. Only I forgot everything she used. So here is my best approximation.
1 cup chocolate almond milk
cinnamon to taste
Mix almond milk and cinnamon in a cup. Microwave 1 minute, 30 seconds. Stir and enjoy!
I did some nutrition checking, and the powdered hot chocolate mix has the same amount of calories as the almond milk. So you're not getting a difference calorie-wise, but at least you're not getting all the junk. Also, I've done this with a different brand of almond milk (but can't remember the name), and I liked the flavor better, but this was still yummy.
What fun Pinterest experiments have you done lately?
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